WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the eve of Diwali renamed Faizabad as Sri Ayodhya. “Ayodhya is a symbol of our ‘ aan, baan aur shaan’ ( honour, pride and prestige),” Mr Adityanath said. “Nobody can do injustice to Ayodhya,” he said, adding that the holy city is identified by Lord Ram. But the priest- politician is not the first one to rename the city. There are numerous cities and towns that have been renamed after independence.

● 1971, Tamil Nadu’s Trichy was changed to Tiruchirapalli.

● 1974, Gujarat’s Baroda became Vadodara.

● 1977, Poona was changed to Pune.

● 1987, Andhra Pradesh’s Waltair was first changed to Vizagapatnam and later Visakhapatnam or Vizag as it is most commonly known.

● 1991, Kerala’s Trivandrum was changed to Thiruvananthapuram

● 1995, Bombay became Mumbai.

● 1996, Madras was changed to Chennai.

● 1996, Cochin became Kochi.

● 2001, Calcutta to Kolkata.

● 2006, Pondicherry, also known as ‘ Pondy’ became Puducherry.

● 2007, Uttaranchal became Uttarakhand.

● 2014, Karnataka’s Mangalore was changed to Mangaluru.

● 2014, Banglore became Bengaluru.

● 2018, Allahabad was changed to Prayagraj.